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Looking to develop your life skills? Then forget lowly work experience or charity endeavours - just get back on your games console. Playing games helps develop a whole range of life skills... according to gamers

A massive 84 per cent of “tech enthusiasts” think playing videogames has enhanced skills that help them in their everyday lives, according to research carried out by 2D and 3D graphics software developer Autodesk.

Hand-eye co-ordination, and faster reaction times and reflexes were just some of the skills that respondents thought playing videogames had helped them improve.

Other, more general areas of improvement yielded by playing videogames included the development of patience, understanding, creativity and precision skills.

Playing videogames can also help develop skills useful in education, according to 25 per cent of respondents, while 37 per cent thought that skills learned through gaming have been useful in their careers. Another 22 per cent thought gaming aids social skills.

“Games can have a real impact,” said Mary-Beth Haggerty, senior games industry manager at Autodesk. “I remember never looking at a city the same way after playing Sim City.”

Autodesk’s study builds on growing evidence that videogames can have a positive impact on players.

Last month, a North American university concluded that playing action titles, such as Call of Duty 2, can help to improve adult eyesight. ®